1.
B. S. Abdur Rahman
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Buhari Syed Abdur Rahman was an Indian serial entrepreneur, philanthropist and educationist. He had a range of interests in the UAE and India including maritime shipping, real estate. He founded numerous schools, colleges, hospitals and university and he was one of the 24 Indians to feature in The 500 Most Influential Muslims, an annual publication which ranks the most influential Muslims in the world. Abdur Rahman was the Vice-Chairperson of Emirates Trading Agency and Ascon Group and he is the founder of B. S. Abdur Rahman University, one of the first private owned engineering colleges in Chennai. He was the Chairman of East Coast Constructions and Industries, West Asia Exports and Imports, West Asia Maritime, Buhari Group, Amana Investments in Hong Kong and he was also the Vice-Chairman of Coal & Oil and Coastal Energy. He founded Indias first stand-alone health insurer Star Health and Allied Insurance with the help of Oman Insurance Company and he died on 7 January 2015 at the age of 87. B. S. Abdur Rahman was born in Kilakarai, Tamil Nadu, India, in a middle-class Marakkar family and his father was a prominent Pearl Trader in South Asia. He completed his Secondary School Level at Schwartz School, Ramanathapuram & Hameedia High School and he was blessed with four sons and two daughters. He started his business in Sri Lanka with his elder brother Abdul Kader prominently called Thaika Vapa in Tamil Nadu. He had a sister and after her accidental death B. S. Abdul Rahman started a Womens College in his sisters name Thaseem Beevi Abdul Cader Womens College in his home town and he has started so many schools and colleges in Tamil Nadu. At the age of fifteen, Abdur Rahman first went to Colombo with just ₹149 and he worked as an errand boy for diamond merchants. He was at the time staying at rent-free accommodation with traders from Kilakarai but he had to fetch tea for them from a hotel, clean the rooms. A lesser person perhaps would have thrown in the towel, but Sena Aana was made of sterner stuff. Before long, he used his skills to obtain gemstones on credit from another merchant. In time he became a successful gem trader, the base that Abdur Rahman built in Ceylon was to help him in all his future activities. He began visiting Belgium, then as now, a centre of the gem trade, the USA, South America and set up business in Penang, Malaysia, Madras, Kolkata and it was in Hong Kong that his business flourished. Incidentally, Abdur Rahman was the first person from Kilakarai to go to Hong Kong, in Hong Kong he launched the Precious Trading Company in 1954. Later, his very special brainchild, the Amana Group of Hong Kong, was established and it was under its banner that the multi-national company ETA-Ascon came into existence

2.
Abdul Halim of Kedah
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Tuanku Abdul Halim ibni Almarhum Sultan Badlishah, DMN GCB KStJ is the current Sultan of Kedah, reigning since 1958. He served as the fifth Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia from 1970 to 1975, and he is the first person to hold the position of Yang di-Pertuan Agong twice, as well as the oldest elected to the office. He is the second longest-reigning living monarch in the world and the second oldest currently reigning monarch after Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. Born at Istana Anak Bukit near Alor Star as Tunku Abdul Halim, he was the second, but eldest surviving son, of Sultan Badlishah and he is of Malay and Siamese descent. His mother was a Kedah-born Princess named Tunku Sofiah binti Tunku Mahmud, Abdul Halims maternal grandfather, Tunku Mahmud, was once Raja Muda or heir presumptive to the throne of Kedah. He was educated at Alor Merah and Titi Gajah Malay schools and he went on to Wadham College, Oxford and obtained a Diploma in Social Science and Public Administration. He subsequently joined the Kedah Administrative Service, serving in the Alor Star district office and later, on 6 August 1949 Abdul Halim was appointed Raja Muda or heir apparent and succeeded as twenty-seventh Sultan of Kedah on his fathers death on 15 July 1958. He was installed at the Balai Besar, Kota Star Palace in Alor Star on 20 February 1959, Tuanku Abdul Halim served as Deputy Yang di-Pertuan Agong from 21 September 1965 to 20 September 1970. Tuanku Abdul Halim was elected as the fifth Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia and he was the third youngest monarch to ascend the throne of Yang di-Pertuan Agong after Tuanku Syed Putra of Perlis and Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin of Terengganu. Tunku Abdul Rahman had felt that he should not serve under a nephew, given strict Malay royal protocol, on 2 November 2006, Tuanku Abdul Halim was for the second time elected Deputy Yang di-Pertuan Agong to serve a five-year term. He is the first person to have been elected twice to this office, in October 2011, Abdul Halim was elected to serve a second term as the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, which commenced on 13 December 2011. He is the first person to hold the position twice and he was officially installed on April 11,2012 at Istana Negara. Sultan Abdul Halims tenure as Yang Di Pertuan Agong ended on 12 December 2016, Tuanku Abdul Halim had two wives,1. Tuanku Bahiyah, daughter of Tuanku Abdul Rahman of Negeri Sembilan and she served as Sultanah of Kedah and Raja Permaisuri Agong. She died on 26 August 2003 at Istana Kuala Cegar in Alor Star and they had three daughters, Yang Teramat Mulia Tunku Soraya, now known as Duli Yang Amat Mulia, Raja Puan Muda Perak. She is the Tunku Temenggong of Kedah, Tuanku Haminah binti Hamidun, married 1975. A commoner from Perak, she was titled Che Puan Kedah until 9 January 2004 when she was crowned as Sultanah and she is serving as Raja Permaisuri Agong during his second term as Yang di-Pertuan Agong. On 15 July 2008, Tuanku Abdul Halim Muadzam Shah celebrated his Golden Jubilee as the Sultan of Kedah and he is only the fourth Sultan in a line of 28 Sultans who have celebrated 50 years of reign in Kedah

3.
Edward Abbey
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Edward Paul Abbey was an American author and essayist noted for his advocacy of environmental issues, criticism of public land policies, and anarchist political views. His best-known works include the novel The Monkey Wrench Gang, which has been cited as an inspiration by environmental groups, Abbey was born in Indiana, Pennsylvania, on January 29,1927 to Mildred Postlewait and Paul Revere Abbey. Mildred was a schoolteacher and a church organist, and gave Abbey an appreciation for classical music, Paul was a socialist, anarchist, and atheist whose views strongly influenced Abbey. Abbey graduated from school in Indiana, Pennsylvania, in 1945. Eight months before his 18th birthday, when he would be faced with being drafted into the United States military and he traveled by foot, bus, hitchhiking, and freight train hopping. During this trip he fell in love with the country of the Four Corners region. For the first time, I felt I was getting close to the West of my deepest imaginings, the place where the tangible, in the military Abbey had applied for a clerk typist position but instead he served two years as a military police officer in Italy. Abbey was promoted in the military twice but due to his knack for opposing authority, was demoted and was honorably discharged as a private. His experience with the left him with a distrust for large institutions and regulations which influenced his writing throughout his career. When he returned to the United States, Abbey took advantage of the G. I, bill to attend the University of New Mexico, where he received a B. A. in philosophy and English in 1951, and a masters degree in philosophy in 1956. During his time in college, Abbey supported himself by working at a variety of odd jobs, including being a reporter and bartending in Taos. During this time he had few friends but had intimate relationships with a number of women. Shortly before getting his bachelors degree, Abbey married his first wife, while an undergraduate, Abbey was the editor of a student newspaper in which he published an article titled Some Implications of Anarchy. A cover quotation of the article, ironically attributed to Louisa May Alcott stated Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest. University officials seized all of the copies of the issue, upon receiving his honorable discharge papers, he sent it back to the department with the words Return to Sender. Abbey was on the FBI’s watch-list ever since then and was watched throughout his life, in 1952 Abbey wrote a letter against the draft in times of peace and again the FBI took notice writing, Edward Abbey is against war and military. Throughout his life the FBI took notes building a profile on Abbey, observing his movements, towards the later parts of his life Abbey learned of the FBI’s interest in him and said I’d be insulted if they weren’t watching me. After graduating, Schmechal and Abbey traveled together to Edinburgh, Scotland, during this time, Abbey and Schmechal separated and ended their marriage

4.
Brock Adams
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Brockman Brock Adams was an American politician and member of Congress. Adams was a Democrat from Washington and served as a U. S. Representative, Senator, Adams was born in Atlanta, Georgia, and attended the public schools in Portland, Oregon. He graduated in 1949 and was admitted to Harvard Law School, Adams served in the U. S. Navy from 1944 to 1946, and was admitted to the Washington state bar in 1952, opening a private practice in Seattle. Adams was also a member of the American Bar Association, Adams taught law at the American Institute of Banking from 1954 to 1960, and served as United States Attorney for the Western District of Washington from 1961 to 1964. Adams was elected as a Democrat to the House and served six terms beginning January 3,1965 and he was chairman of the newly created Budget Committee during the 94th Congress, and was considered a strong candidate for Speaker of the House. On January 22,1977, Adams resigned to become the fifth Secretary of Transportation following his appointment by President Jimmy Carter and confirmation by the Senate. After resigning his Cabinet post on July 20,1979, Adams resumed law practice, on November 4,1986, Adams was elected as a U. S. senator, narrowly defeating incumbent Republican Slade Gorton. Serving one term, he compiled a record and was strongly supportive of his partys leadership. Adams was accused by Kari Tupper, the daughter of a longtime friend, Adams denied the allegations, but his popularity statewide was weakened considerably by the scandal and he chose to retire rather than risk losing the seat for his party. Adams never lost an election, and lived in Stevensville, Maryland, adamss willingness to plunge into controversial issues was evident in the contrasting assessments of his tenure and accomplishments during a tumultuous period in transportation. Adams was also a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, lobbying in the United States Brock Adams Papers. 14.85 cubic feet including oversize material,2 microfilm reels,65 videocassettes,1 audio disc,11 reel to reel sound tapes plus 3 items, biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Voting record maintained by the Washington Post

5.
Tofig Abbasguliyev
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Tofig Asgar oglu Abbasguliyev was a lexicographer, scholar of linguistics, and director of the Khazar University Dictionary and Encyclopedia Center. Tofig Abbasguliyev was born in Füzuli, Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic and he earned an honors diploma in history at the Azerbaijan State Pedagogical University. Then he worked as a school teacher and director. He later earned a diploma from the English-Azerbaijani department at the Azerbaijan University of Languages. He worked at the Institute of Eastern Studies and for the English language department within the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences and he also headed the English department at Khazar University. After 1992, Tofig Abbasguliyev devoted his time mostly to Khazar University, he worked as a professor and as the director of the Dictionary, Tofig Abbasguliyev’s fields of scholarship include English grammar, terminology, translation, phraseology and lexicology. One well-known book that he authored is English Proverbs with their Azerbaijan and Russian Equivalents, the book gives 1012 English proverbs with their interpretations and equivalents in Azerbaijani and Russian. Tofig Abbasguliyev also co-authored a single-volume “Azerbaijani-English Dictionary” and he compiled and co-edited the Khazar English-Azerbaijani Comprehensive Dictionary in six volumes as part of his work with the Dictionary and Encyclopedia Center

6.
Jack Abel
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Jack Abel was an American comic book artist best known as an inker for leading publishers DC Comics and Marvel Comics. He was DCs primary inker on the Superman titles in the late 1960s and early 1970s and he sometimes used the pseudonym Gary Michaels. After a reshuffling at DC c and he had already inked Gene Colan there on a long stretch of Iron Man stories beginning with Tales of Suspense #73, under the pseudonym Gary Michaels. As Colan recalled, He did a lot of Iron Man with me and he had a very slick line, which was okay on Iron Man, of course. Iron Man was made of iron, so you want it to look like metal, but when it came to stone and dark corners and garbage, he wasnt the man for that. From the mid-1970s, Abel inked not only for Marvel and again DC, but for the smaller companies Gold Key, Charlton Comics, Atlas/Seaboard, and Skywald Publications. Baseball-fan Abel, who in the 1970s rented studio space at Neal Adams and Dick Giordanos Continuity Associates, outside comic books, Abel inked John Celardo from 1967-1969 on the syndicated comic strip Tales of the Green Beret, written by author Robin Moore. In 2016, Abel was nominated and tied for runner-up for the Inkwell Awards Special Recognition Award, Jack Abel at the Comic Book DB The Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators Comic Art & Graffix Gallery, Murphy Anderson interview. WebCite archive Remembering Jack Abel, Comic Book Marketplace, vol,2, #46, Reminiscences by Gene Colan, Peter David, Joe Giella, Russ Heath, Joe Kubert, Alan Kupperberg, and Steve Mitchell Schenk, Ramon, ed. Charlton Personnel. Archived from the original on March 5,2008, additional WebCitation archive made June 15,2010

7.
George O. Abell
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George Ogden Abell was an astronomer at UCLA. He worked as an astronomer, teacher, administrator, popularizer of science and education. Abell received his B. S. M. S. and he began his astronomical career as a tour guide at the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles. His best known work was his catalogue of clusters of galaxies collected during the Palomar Sky Survey and he analyzed their formation and evolution. He demonstrated that second-order clustering existed, disproving the hierarchical model of Carl Charlier and he also discovered how cluster luminosity could be used as a distance scale. He also collated a famous list of 86 planetary nebulae in 1966 which includes Abell 39, the Abell catalogue is an almost complete list of approximately 4,000 clusters containing at least thirty members up to a redshift of z =0.2. The original catalogue of clusters in the hemisphere was published in 1958. The extended catalogue, including clusters in the hemisphere, was published posthumously in 1989 in collaboration with Harold G. Corwin. Abell also co-discovered periodic comet 52P/Harrington-Abell, together with Peter Goldreich, he correctly determined that planetary nebulae evolve from red giants. Abell was passionate about educating people, serving for over twenty years as a faculty member at the Summer Science Program for high school students. The program memorializes him with its Abell Scholarship Fund and he was involved in the production of the educational TV series Understanding Space and Time and Project Universe. Abell was also passionate about debunking pseudoscientific claims such as those by Immanuel Velikovsky and he was a co-founder of the Committee on Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal and contributed articles to their journal, The Skeptical Inquirer. Abell served as president of the Cosmology Commission of the International Astronomical Union and as president and he was elected a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1970. He was chairman of the UCLA Astronomy Department from 1968 to 1975, at the time of his death, he was to have become editor of the Astronomical Journal effective January 1,1984. Asteroid 3449 Abell is named in his honor, as is The George Abell Observatory at the Open University in Milton Keynes, England. O. Exploration of the Universe, Saunders College Pub, 6th/Rev edition ISBN 0-03-094666-2 Abell, G. O. Wolff, S. C. and Morrison, D. Realm of the Universe, Saunders College Publishing, 5th ed.1994 edition ISBN 0-03-001664-9 Abell, George O, Singer, Barry, Science and the Paranormal, Probing the Existence of the Supernatural. A catalog of rich clusters of galaxies, American Astronomical Society ASIN B000726Y06

8.
Al Aber
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Albert Julius Aber, nicknamed Lefty, was a left-handed Major League Baseball pitcher who played six years in the Major Leagues with the Cleveland Indians, Detroit Tigers, and Kansas City Athletics. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Aber was signed as a free agent by the Indians at age 19 in 1946. He made his league debut on September 15,1950, pitching a complete game victory. He did not play another game in the big leagues until 1953, Aber spent the next five years with the Tigers, where he went 22–24 in five years. His best statistical season was 1955, in which Aber appeared in 39 games and won 6, lost 3, and had an earned run average of 3.38. He was then waived by the Tigers, and was picked up by the Kansas City Athletics, in an interview in Sport magazine in June 1956, Tigers catcher Frank House complimented Aber for his heavy ball, I could catch Billy with a fielders glove. Although hes fast, he throws a ball that makes it easy on the catcher. Al Aber, another leftie on our staff, is tough to catch because he throws a heavy ball, Aber died in 1993 at the age of 65 in Garfield Heights, Ohio. Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference Baseball Almanac

9.
Joe Abeywickrama
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Deshabandu Gammana Patabendige Don John Joe Abeywickrama, known as Joe Abeywickrama, was an award-winning Sri Lankan actor. He began acting in 1955 and achieved fame as a comedic actor, since 1965, Abeywickrama has also done dramatic roles. He has won 18 Sarasavi Awards and Presidential Awards, at the 1999 Singapore International Film Festival, Abeywickrama won a Silver Screen Award for Best Asian Actor for his portrayal of a grieving father in Pura Handa Kaluwara, a first for a Sri Lankan. Gammana Patabendige Don John Joe Abeywickrama was born in Lellopitiya, Sri Lanka and he was the eldest of four children. His surroundings instilled in him an appreciation of nature and hard work. Abeywickrama graduated from Sivali Central College in Ratnapura, in the 1940s he settled in Colombo and started working for Sirisena Wimalaweeras studio Nawajeewana. Initially limited to doing chores, Abeywickrama eventually became involved in films screened in Ratnapura by the studio. He made contacts with industry insiders while with the studio. Abeywickrama has acted in more than 100 films and began his career in stage plays. Abeywickramas first notable role was in Saradama as a police officer who collected ants. He obtained the role with the help of his friend Florida Jayalath and considers it to be his first real role, after Saradama Abeywickrama was in demand as a comedic actor. Abeywickrama began taking more dramatic roles with Shesha Palihakkaras Saravita, an award winning film, nihalsinghes Welikathara Abeywickrama continued in this field. In the 1971 film he portrays the stern Goring Mudalali and he also starred in Mahagama Sekeras Tun Man Handiya in 1970. Abeywickrama published his first novel Maha Bambata Muhunu Dekai in 1972, until his death, he has acted in 172 films where 62 of them as leading actor and rest 110 as a supporting actor